Circling for rodents?

In article , Tony Verhulst
flippin' ridge. They had
their wings tucked in real close and were just ?zipping along. T
hey were at ridge top level about 30 feet in front of us ?and it was just
amazing. I can only guess at what their airspeed was, ?but they were probably
moving across the ridge at 20 to 30mph and so ?when you factor in the 90+ mph
wind speed, their ASIs were probably ?hitting near 130. You'll never convince me
they were flying to catch ?lunch - they were flying because they were having a
blast. Of this I ?have absolutely no doubt.??Tony V. LS6-b "6N"?

I wonder what Vne is for a raven?
--
Mike Lindsay

I wonder what Vne is for a raven?

African or European? :-)

Tony


--

All good things arrive unto them that wait -
and don't die in the meantime.

Mark Twain

I wonder what Vne is for a raven?

African or European? :-)

Tony

And is it carrying coconuts shells?

take care

Blll

For that matter, what the heck are red-tails doing
up at FL180 in the middle of the summer. They sure
are not spotting food or migrating. And what sort
of O2 saturation levels are they maintaining?








At 15:36 16 July 2004, Bllfs6 wrote:
I wonder what Vne is for a raven?

African or European? :-)

Tony

And is it carrying coconuts shells?

take care

Blll

Although Ravens are corvids not raptors they do take
live prey as well as carrion. There is no reason in
the world why they should not be hunting for food.
Flying takes a great deal of energy and like most animals
birds fly for a reason, they don't waste energy which
requires more food. Whether they enjoy themselves at
the same time is debateable. Ravens are also renowned
for their intelligence, in the brid sense, but that
is not saying a great deal. The description 'birdbrain'
was coined for a reason and most of a birds brain is
taken up in processing it's senses. This does not leave
a lot for thinking.

Come to think of it.................. no, better not
go there :-)

At 18:48 12 July 2004, Tony Verhulst wrote:
??Back in my hang gliding days I participated in a
competition at ?Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina
- about an 800 foot cliff ?followed by another 800
feet of mountain Ð and the cliff was part of a ?soarable
ridge. Grandfather mountain is a tourist attraction
with a road ?to the top and a gift shop at the summit.
We knew we weren't going to ?soar that day because
we had trouble walking into the gift shop. The ?weather
station inside was reporting winds in excess of 90
mph. But the ?wind direction was perfect - dead on
the ridge.??We didn't soar that day but the local residents
did. They have ravens at ?Grandfather mountain - lots
of ravens. We were literally hanging on to ?any thing
we could because we were afraid of being blown off
the ?mountain. And, walking across that suspension
bridge between the 2 peaks ?was probably not the smartest
move. Anyway, the ravens were soaring the ?flippin'
ridge. They had their wings tucked in real close and
were just ?zipping along. T
hey were at ridge top level about 30 feet in front
of us ?and it was just amazing. I can only guess at
what their airspeed was, ?but they were probably moving
across the ridge at 20 to 30mph and so ?when you factor
in the 90+ mph wind speed, their ASIs were probably
?hitting near 130. You'll never convince me they were
flying to catch ?lunch - they were flying because they
were having a blast. Of this I ?have absolutely no
doubt.??Tony V. LS6-b '6N'?

A few years back I drove out to Dead Horse Point in southeast Utah
late on a summer day. For a week it had been hot with overdevelopment
which didn't actually produce rain or even much wind. But it was
gonna do it this evening. You could smell ozone. Hell, you could
practically smell the ocean for how much water the thunderheads were
packing.

I walked to the edge and looked out over the lodge-pole fence into a
breeze that was freshening around 25kts. There were two big ravens
soaring the cliff face. That experience put all doubt behind me.

The rain was coming, and life was easy, if just for that little while.
They skidded, stalled and dropped out front. They tucked and raced
along the edge. They got high way back and zoomed through the
compression zone.

They played.

When the rain came I ran to my truck. There was so much wind that my
shocks lurched just sitting in the parking lot. I suppose the birds
left. I couldn't see them for the downpour. But I thought about a
couple hotshots kicking back in a hanger somewhere smiling and trading
"there I was" stories.

One time I went hang gliding on the ridge out at Randolf, Utah. This
ridge is perhaps 5-10 miles long and a big rookery for buzzards. I
flew lazily that evening for a couple hours enjoying the avian company
and then landed at the bottom with the zillion mosquitos, because I
feared that if I top-landed and hurt myself it might be a long time
before someone found me.

Anyway, that meant I had to walk back up to get my truck. A fer
piece.

So I was walking this dirt road close to twilight, and I was thinking
about the nice flight and how when it's good it's really good, when I
spotted a jack rabbit sitting up ahead maybe 20 yards. And BAM!

A Red Tail hawk slammed into the rabbit and crashed in a rolling dusty
heap of wings and fur. But he didn't let go! And in a second he
righted himself on top of the stunned or dead bunny and flapped like
there was no tomorrow until he'd cleared the sage and the stupid human
walking his way. I lost sight of him as he cleared the mouth of the
canyon.

Incredible. I had this notion that they could just pick 'em off like
the proverbial surgical strike. But hell no. I walked away
thinking... undignified.

David wrote:

I had this notion that they could just pick 'em off like
the proverbial surgical strike. But hell no. I walked away
thinking... undignified.

All surgical strikes look like that from the rabbit's point of view.


--
Jack

"Cave ab homine unius libri"